About Manuel and Valentina

Partner Manuel Scotti and Principal Valentina Giacometti are based in our Milan office. After Manuel and Valentina started at BCG in 2015 and 2016 respectively, they were introduced to each other through a mutual friend at BCG. The two eventually got married and have since started a family together while continuing their career paths at BCG. We connected with Manuel and Valentina to hear about how they balance their careers with parenthood.

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What does a day in your life look like balancing work and family?

Manuel: We wake up at 7:30am – actually, the kids wake us up, because they tend to come to our bedroom first thing in the morning to assess our energy level. By 8:30am we take our son Matteo to kindergarten and the most difficult part of the morning is done. Our day really kicks off at 9:00am, with the start of the working day and the arrival of our nanny, who watches our other child. Our day is usually very busy from there. In order to ensure an effective work-life balance, we both protect our time from 7:30pm till 9:30pm. Transparency is crucial when you are establishing boundaries with your team. I explain that the slot of 7:30pm to 9:30pm is family time, so I will not be working. For us, this time is incredibly important, because it's when we are both at home with the kids and we can have dinner all together. Our colleagues and managing directors and partners understand our needs as a family, and they allow us the flexibility we need. In the case of complex days at work, we have seen that it is totally okay to ask our team for extra support. Once you have a family, your kids become the top priority, and BCGers seem to understand that well.

Valentina: Being transparent about your protected time with the MDP on the case and with your team is very important. If you're a project leader, it also works in terms of time and tasks management: if you stay well organized, you are able to provide your team with “last instructions” before your protected time. Fortunately, at BCG we have much respect for the individual and for personal space. Based off of our experiences, my advice to other working parents like us would be to: plan the week with care, making sure it is manageable; define working space and habits for both partners; protect dinner time; set expectations and make your situation clear at the office.

How have things changed in your lives and careers since having children?

Valentina: Before having kids, work was our focus a lot of the time. Once you have kids, it’s critical to find a healthy compromise between family and work. At the same time, you must find time for yourself. For example, we both love sports, and we try to spend 3-4 hours per week practicing sports. We do this at odd hours of the day so that it fits into our schedules.

Manuel: When Matteo was born, for the first four or six months I dedicated 99% of my time between work and him, sacrificing everything else. I reached a point where I realized that just couldn't work for me. I needed to dedicate some time to myself, whether it was to play sports, read, or do any of my other hobbies. The “me time” is crucial. We try to schedule that time either when the kids are asleep or during the weekend when we try to spend time as a couple. We also make sure that we cover for each other if need be. At the end of the day, it is a true partnership. We do the same job, we both know the effort it requires, and we have a functional system to manage the day-to-day of our family.

What challenges have you faced since becoming working parents?

Valentina: Becoming a mother was not easy, especially with the first child, but I believe it’s normal to face challenges with such a large life change. What was hard to accept is the compromises that we had to make because we decided to keep jobs that can sometimes be stressful. However, I think that each single period of life has its own objective. There are times when it's okay to be 100% focused on the babies. Then there is a time when you need to learn how to incorporate balance so that you do not completely sacrifice what you like to do or your own personal goals. We like our work, and we believe that both of us working will provide many opportunities for our kids. Moreover, I want my kids to grow up with positive examples. I want them to see that you can face challenges head-on, and that reaching your goals requires hard work and effort. Generally, I think it’s positive for them to grow up with a working mother.

Manuel: I agree. The most difficult aspect to cope with is the compromise. My aspiration is to be able to provide more opportunities for my kids in the future, so the compromise is worth it. I made my peace with the fact that for some people at work, I may not be as exceptional as I used to be. However, I also want to be a father and a good one at that, so things had to change.

Which of BCG’s parental benefits have been most helpful to you?

Valentina: I am proud of BCG’s parental policy, for both mothers and fathers, because it really states that the kids are a responsibility of both parents. I am not 100% back to work yet, because at BCG the parental policy allows me to have more time at home in my first year of motherhood. Furthermore, in Italy there’s also breastfeeding time, which consists of two hours per day, for the first year of the baby’s life. Between both of those policies, I normally have Fridays off. I also find BCG’s home office staffing policy to be very beneficial. This policy ensures that I will not be staffed on a case outside of Milan for the next couple of years. When we were starting our family, we were quite worried about staffing. It would be complex to manage a new family if both parents were staffed in a different city or country at the same time. However, having the home office staffing option ensures that there will be at least one parent at home, and it works well together with the FLEX time.

Manuel: Something we haven’t yet discussed is flex time, which is extremely important. Flex time allows us to work at a reduced capacity without it impacting our career progression. Other than the paternity leave, I actually didn’t take any flex time off. However, if in the next 3, 6, or 12 months we feel like either of us needs to focus more on the family, we know that we can request flex time to make it happen.

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Learn more about how BCG supports families.